Tractor-trailers to promote county

By DAN DEARTH

March 4, 2009

2009dan.dearth@herald-mail.com

HAGERSTOWN — Washington County officials and area business leaders on Wednesday revealed a 53-foot marketing plan to help rev up the local economy.

The plan involves converting two tractor-trailers into moving billboards that will travel to selected parts of the country.

The sides of the trucks display the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission’s logo and photographs that tout education and business opportunities in the county.

The phrases “Crossroads of Commerce” and “The Crossroads of Successful Business” appear on the trucks.

EDC Executive Director Timothy Troxell said the trucks were provided by D.M. Bowman Inc. of Williamsport.

“It’s just another piece of our marketing program to get word out to promote our community,” Troxell said. “We don’t know if it will work.”

Troxell said the trucks are ready to hit the road. One will travel about 4,000 miles a week to places like Baltimore, Chicago and Dallas, he said. The other will travel through Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Troxell said about half of the project’s $10,000 cost came from a state grant. The EDC’s marketing budget covered the rest, he said.

Because the logos should last five to seven years, the program will offer a “pretty good bang for the buck,” he said.

Troxell said the marketing plan was the result of a combined effort from the EDC, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, D.M. Bowman Inc. and High Rock Studios Inc.